All the lovely, tasty, festive goodness of gingerbread, with no eggs or dairy!
It is incredibly easy to make vegan gingerbread, and a great one to try out with the kids. This recipe uses only standard ingredients you can find in any store, and takes just a few minutes to make (plus a bit of time to chill the dough).
I have been making these with my son since he was a little boy – many years ago! They are soft, and chewy with just the right amount of ginger. You can use the same recipe to make other gingerbread shapes too – stars work really well.
Just sift the flour and spices in a bowl, then melt the sugar, vegan spread and golden syrup together. Mix the two together, chill, then roll out, cut the shapes and bake. Simple!
You can use any vegan spread for the recipe but for best results use a hard block. There are a few plant based ‘butters’ available now or Stock block works well (not the spread though, as it isn’t vegan).
Measure the golden syrup carefully – too much will make your gingerbread too loose and they won’t hold their shape very well.
When they come out of the oven they will seem very soft and quite pale, that is fine. Dont’ be tempted to put them in for longer – they firm up as they cool, so any longer and they will be rock hard!
Have a go at making these yummy biscuits and let us know how you get on in the comments. Happy baking!
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Medium saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Gingerbread person cookie cutter
- Baking paper
Ingredients
- 225g self raising flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100g dairy free spread Stork block works well for this
- 115g light soft brown sugar
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- oil for greasing
- icing for decoration
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, bicarb and spices together. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, add the sugar, golden syrup and dairy free spread.
- Melt over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar and spread are melted and combined.
- Remove from the heat and stir the flour mixture into the saucepan, stirring until it is combined. Then use your hands to form it into a dough.
- Place in a clean bowl, cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Pre heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan).
- Knead the dough lightly, then roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm thick.
- Grease a baking sheet, and line with baking paper.
- Cut out the shapes and lay on the baking sheet, leaving a gap between each one as they will expand when cooking. Re roll any left over bits and cut out more.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. They will look soft and a little underdone when you take them out, this is fine, they will firm up as they cool. Don't be tempted to put them back in again for longer, or they will be too hard! Leave to cool and harden a little on the trays for 1-2 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool you can decorate them with icing and vegan sweets or dark chocolate.